As Eddie Lopez wrestles nearly 200 pounds of bags, bulging with brightly wrapped Christmas presents, toward the bus he’ll take to Culiacan, Mexico, he counts himself lucky to have a seat.

His wife and four sons left for Mexico a week ago so they could be sure of all getting on a bus during the busy Christmas travel period.

“We pulled the boys out of school early,” says Lopez, who lives in Queen Creek and visits family in Culiacan every Christmas. “It was the only way we could get them seats because there are hardly any left.”

More than 1 million Mexicans and Americans of Mexican descent will pour across the border this month for the holidays.

Last year, an estimated 1.8million made the journey, according to Mexico’s internal-affairs agency. That agency, the Secretaria de Gobernacion, last week launched Operación Invierno, or Operation Winter, to help such travelers with everything from having the proper paperwork to staying safe as they move through border areas dominated by drug cartels.

As part of that effort, Mexico’s federal police, military and other agencies are beefing up their presence along the main highways and travel routes.

For the holiday season, the Mexican government also increases the duty-free allowance each person is allowed to $300 from the usual $75.

At Arizona’s border crossings, including Nogales, the state’s busiest, fewer people have been driving south this holiday season than last year, according to Customs and Border Protection.

“There seems to be a decrease in southbound traffic up to this point,” said Edith Serrano, a CBP spokeswoman, adding that “we’ll have a better idea after (the) weekend.”

But at Sanborn’s Mexican Insurance, which sells auto policies for travel in Mexico, sales for December so far are up 14 percent from last year, said Rocio Morales, general manager for the McAllen, Texas, company. “And we still have tomorrow,” she said Friday. “The Saturday prior to Christmas is always the busiest day for crossing.”

“Even with everything people see on the media” about crime in Mexico, “family ties are strong,” she said.

Those choosing not to travel cite a variety of reasons: tight budgets, worries about the weak economy and, especially, fear of violent crime.

One of those who has decided not to go this year is Jose Garcia, a Phoenix resident who on Thursday was at a bus station exploring options to ship presents to relatives in Sonora.

“It’s too rough to travel there, too much violence. My family there told me, ‘Don’t risk it,’” said Garcia, who says he stopped going back during December three years ago.

Both the Mexican and U.S. governments have issued advisories urging people to avoid traveling at night. The U.S. State Department’s advisory notes that “the Mexican government makes a considerable effort to protect U.S. citizens and other visitors,” but it goes on to warn that “crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country and can occur anywhere,” and that U.S. citizens have fallen victim to homicides, gunbattles, kidnappings, carjackings and highway robberies.

There are no advisories by either country against travel to most major Mexican tourist destinations, including Mexico City, Mazatlan, Acapulco and Cancun. But there are advisories for every one of the northern border states and Sinaloa.

Travelers interviewed while waiting for buses at a Phoenix station on 27th Avenue said they weren’t familiar with the warnings, but without exception they said they knew about security problems in Mexico’s border regions and farther south.

“I think it’s more risky to travel by car,” said Valentin Herrera, a Phoenix resident traveling with his wife, Marlen, to Guamochi, a small town in Sinaloa. “So we’re going by bus. It’s more comfortable, anyway.”

Autotransportes Tufesa, a Mexican bus company that is based in Sonora and has lines stretching from the western U.S. to Mexico’s Pacific and northwestern states, has seen such strong ticket sales that it has added 17 buses for this holiday season to its regular fleet of 60, said Arturo Monje, the company’s Phoenix station manager.

Monje said he thinks the roads are safer than in recent years.

“It’s calmed down quite a bit,” he said. “We haven’t had a robbery attempt for a long time.”

Retiree Julia Aguilera and her sister, Simona Garcia of Glendale, who are traveling by bus to Navojoa, Mexico, to visit family for the holidays, said they were beaten and robbed on a Tufesa bus returning to the United States in 2009.

“They came dressed as police, with a blue flasher on their car,” said Aguilera. “They robbed everybody, hit us, knocked us down, kicked us.”

Garcia, robbed of her documents as well as her money, was stuck in Nogales for most of a day while Aguilera, who had squirreled away her U.S. passport, was taken to a hospital on the Arizona side and treated for her injuries. “We lost a lot of money,” she said.

That hasn’t stopped them from going back. “We’re not too worried,” said Aguilera. “There are more police now in Sonora, and they’re being more vigilant. … But we go there because we have papers and can travel, and our family there doesn’t have papers to come here.”

Jesus Ramos, who was taking his nephew Miguel, 9, and sisters Brenda, 19, and Ashly, 13, by bus to Culiacan from Avondale, said he wasn’t the least worried about his or their safety on the road.

“I’ve driven there and back, and to Tijuana, on all these supposedly dangerous roads, and I’ve never had any issues,” he said. The reason he’s not driving this time? “I wanted to drive, but my truck doesn’t get great mileage, and for a five-day visit, this is cheaper.”

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